How many claws does a bear have?

Some products are not worth making yourself and puff pastry is one of those. One of the many fabulous things you can create at home using store bought puff pastry is Bear Claws.

It is much simpler than one would think and can be made with great success. The most important thing to know with puff pastry is KEEP IT CHILLED! It is the ice cold butter in the many layers of pastry that creates steam when baked at a high heat and causes the pastry to puff. So if I forgot to tell you later, if you are not directly in contact with the pastry, keep it in the fridge.

The process is simple.
1. Thaw your puff pastry ,in the box, overnight in the fridge.
2. On the next day, preheat your oven to 425F and make the filling and glaze (see below).
3. Once you have the filling made put it into a piping bag or large zip top bag with the corner cut off. Beat an egg in a bowl with 1 tsp. water to use a the egg wash and have a pastry brush at the ready.

You will also need to have sliced almonds ready.
4. Assemble the bear claws. Unfold the dough and if needed roll into a rectangular shape or cut into 2 pieces in order to obtain rectangles. you should work on a Silpat or parchment paper to facilitate getting the pastry onto a sheet pan. Orient the rectangle so it is horizontal in front of you. Using a piping bag or zip top bag, pipe the filling along where the middle fold of the rectangle. You can make 2-3 strips of filling depending on how much you like. 

Egg wash the bottom and sides slightly and the fold the top half of the rectangle down over the lower half so that the filling is now at the top of the folded pastry where the fold is. Press the edges closed so no filling escapes. Cut the length of pastry into individual bear claw portions. 

If you are work on a Silpat, be careful not to cut the Silpat. Separate the individual portions and cut the toes along the bottom edge.

 Egg wash the whole bear claw and sprinkle a generous amount of sliced almonds over it. Get it into the hot oven for 15-20 minutes until nice golden and delicious! remove from the oven and brush the glaze onto the hot pastries.

Bear Claw filling:
1/2 c. almond paste
1/2c. butter
2 eggs
1/3 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1/2 c. cake flour
In a mixer, using the paddle, mix half of the butter and almond paste on medium for 1-2 minutes until light and smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and mix on medium until well blended.

Apricot glaze
1/4 c. apricot jam
1/4 c. water
1/4 c. corn syrup
1 T.  brandy
Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat and stir until the jam is melted. Strain through a sieve into a bowl. It is ready to use once it has cooled to room temperature.
These would make lovely Christmas morning gifts for neighbors! 

Enjoy!
xo MamaP

My final day at the CIA

Sadly my time at the CIA has come to a close. I learned quite a bit at Bistro Boot Camp and am so looking forward to preparing Bistro food for my Fam!
Day 4 presented us with the challenge of desserts and baked goods. My team was responsible for cheese souffles, quiche with caramelized onions and brie, and chocolate mousse.
Since I have had experience preparing all 3, my team mates asked me to help with all 3 and they would each take 1 as their responsibility. I started by helping to prep the mis en place for the cheeses souffle.

With that done, I moved over to help with the syrup for the chocolate mousse. We got it to the point of just going from little bubbles to big and went to whip it into the egg yolks and ended up making egg hard candy.  I was totally perplexed.  So... OK,  call chef... she too was perplexed! That made me feel much better! We pulled out the hard lumps, made another syrup and ended up with much better looking stabilizer so we slowly mixed in the melted chocolate which I though was about to seize so I quickly turned off the  mixer and summoned chef again. She took it out and said the chocolate had not seized but somehow we had made the consistency of truffles. She told us to try to get the whip cream folded in but that was not going to happen. So, we scalded some cream and slowly stirred that into what was now truffle dough and voila'! We got it back to mousse base. We then let the mixture cool a bit and got it folded into the whipped cream to make an outstanding mousse, worth the effort.

As with the rest of my life,  I learned the most from my mistakes. If I hadn't had the lecture on understanding of the process of what occurred in that process of stabilizing the base, I probably would have thrown everything out at the first mistake and started again. However, continuing to push forward gave me even more confidence in the kitchen. As chef reminded us, it's food and unless it's burned to a crip, there is almost always a way of saving a mistake!
I will work on a user friendly chocolate mousse recipe to share with you later. But for now, don't give up on your mistakes and trust your instincts!
xo MamaP

CIA Day 3 Breakfast!

My favorite meal out is breakfast and that is what day 3 was all about! One would think breakfast is so simple but I learned the most by far on this day and had the most fun! My assignment was to make English muffins for our team.

Not as difficult as I first thought and very fun!  There will probably not be a lot of commercial English muffins in our house from this point forward. I have included the recipe so you can try them at home. 

Please note that all credit for this recipe goes to the Culinary Institute of America.
In addition to the responsibility of our recipe to fulfill the team's menu for the day, we each had to prepare a perfectly cooked French omelette and a perfectly poached egg.  Since I pretty much subsist on poached eggs, that one was a no brainer, but the omelette proved a bit more challenging. If you know Julia Child's story of culinary school, then you know how many omelets she prepared before success. While I would not say mine was perfect ( a wee bit of color on the exterior) I did get the inside just right and Chef was very pleased! Be still my heart!
Our presentation buffet was at least 3 dozen poached eggs in various forms of bennies. We also got puff pastry 3 ways, apple turnovers, bear claws and tomato tart. Add to that lemon soufflé pancakes, cream scones, muesli in the French style ( folded with whipped cream and fruit!) and grapefruits a la Salvor Dali! It was quite a spread again.

 Technically, we are not supposed to take any food away from the building,for liability, but somehow when I got home, I discovered 2 English muffins in my bag. I thought the Producer needed to reap some benefits for his investment! ; )
Enjoy the English muffin recipe!
Xo MamaP

My time in the CIA Day 2

The CIA is definitely. A place I like to hang out.

 We got to do some fun things yesterday. While not much is brand new to me, it is so good to learn what I am doing correctly and not. Most of all, since this is a learning situation and not a job situation, it's just really fun to don the togs and join in on the energy here! While lectures have been informative, the time in the kitchen matches nothing else. The suites next to us yesterday (where the full time students are working) were attending to their practical on flavors of Asia.  This means in addition to what our chef taught, I eavesdropped on their Shu Mai lecture and demo. Can't wait to try them at home!

We worked on classic Bistro dinner fare.

 Coq au Vin, Ravioli Provençal, Camembert crisp with apple pear compote, Burgundy braised short ribs, Moules ( mussels) Provençal , and all the fabulous sides to go with. So good. 

Of course it all goes on a buffet for us to dive into but after a few hours in the heat of the kitchen one's appetite diminishes. To add to that, we went to lunch to look at a more contemporary setting and their plating style. So we were quite full from lunch! I tell you it's rough here at the CIA!

Xo MamaP

My time in the CIA day 1

Yes it's true, I signed up for the CIA! What else does a 50 year old retired educator do? This has been a decade long dream of mine ever since I toured it decades ago with the Producer and saw all of the fun things they get to do here. The best part is I now have full privelages and access to the highly guarded third floor due to my name badge and most importantly the uniform. 

Well now that I have your attention, time to come clean. I am not entering the world of espionage ,as my young baseball coaching friend first thought! In my world CIA means only one thing! Culinary Institute of America. When I first toured those kitchens, my only thought was I want to cook here some day! 

And with much gratitude to the Producer, there is a big fat check on my bucket list...although I really don't have a bucket list for a variety of reasons! I have not gone back for a full degree because that is a HUGE time and financial commitment. Rather, I am getting my fulfillment in a 4 day Boot Camp. 

We are spending our 4 days in a mini Culinary school experience in and amongst the full time students.  Our focus for the 4 days is all things Bistro. We are broken into teams of 4 (there are 12 of us) and each team prepares 3-4 items and then we set it all out for a delicious buffet dinner. 

Yesterday we did soups, sandwiches and salads. To me the highlights were the French onion soup, and bitter winter greens dressed with a melted Brie vinagrette.

Today we are all going to lunch to look at and talk about plating. this restaurant serves large parties family style so I'm really excited since family style is my thing!

We will return to campus, don our uniforms and go to class for 2 hours of lecture. Lecture will consist of technique and recipe clarification along with some kitchen etiquette.  After lecture, we will head to the kitchen to begin mis en place and then prepare our assigned dishes. Tonight in class we will prepare classic Bistro dinner fare. I will report on the results tomorrow with some better food porn and kitchen shots. 

You can also look forward to me playing with these recipes and sharing my versions!

Xo MamaP

Ideas for Thanksgiving leftovers if you still have them

One must get creative the week after Thanksgiving in order to use all of those leftovers. I am a big believer in turning leftovers in to something new and exciting. Not that I never throw away food, much more than I am proud of! But, I have seen hunger and it is not an easy sight to see. On one of my trips to Kenya, I met a woman in an IDP camp who had not had any food for 5 days straight and very little water. It was very hard to tell her we did not have enough for everyone! However, I greatly appreciate the lesson and the respect for food it has given me.

I will give you some ideas based on the categories around the Thanksgiving table. I won't have any pictures for you since this is all coming right out of my head as I write this.

Turkey

First of all I hope you made stock from the carcass; if not shame on you! It's not hard or labor intensive as popular belief. I even made mine from the smoked turkey we bough and now have 3 quarts of delicious smokey broth to use in things like cassoulet, red beans and rice, jambalaya and other delicacies which call out for that yummy smoky goodness.

I couldn't make my stock the day of so I had the Producer freeze the bones for me and I made it on Monday once all of the offspring returned full and sassy to their own homes. 

Take your largest stock pot, put the carcass in, try not to put too much if any skin in, fill the pot about 1-2 inches from the top with water. Add in the bits of root vegetables you don't use ( the peel of the onion, greens of the leek, fennel fronds, celery hearts, carrot ends...) or if you don't have the bits, use the good parts of said veg. You can also throw in some garlic. I add 2-3 T. Whole peppercorn and 2-3 bay leaves and a sprig of thyme.  Put the pot on medium high and cover. When it starts to boil, take the lid off and let it simmer for at least an hour, longer is better. Let the stock cool. Strain it in a colander lined with cheese cloth to get a nice clear stock. I have been known to use coffee filters when out of cheesecloth but it does take a lot longer to strain.  Once your stock is cooled, transfer to quart containers leaving 1 inch at the top. Label the lids and freeze for up to 6 months. 

I try to make stock whenever I have bones or shells. The homemade is so much more flavorful than the boxed kind, although I use that too!

Turkey pot pie

Use the leftover turkey and any veg you have. Use your leftover gravy or add it to a Bechamel ( see gnocchi post). If you still have a crust use it on the top or just use frozen puff pastry. Don't bother with a bottom crust, it will just be soggy!

Turkey melt. I made this last night. Start with bread that gets crispy when grilled. I love whole grain sourdough.  Use shredded cheese since you need less and it melts better. Cheese should go on the inside ofeach slice to hold the sides together when melted. Add some good mustard or something like pepper spread to kick up the flavor. I added leftover braised greens in with my leftover turkey. A little butter in the pan on low/ med go low and slow to melt the cheese. A little more butter when you flip. Sometimes. I put a lid over it for just a minute to get the cheese melts before flipping. You just don't want to keep it on or your sandwich won't be as crispy.

Turkey posole

(See the posole post), add turkey, especially if it is smoked. 

White turkey chilie

Sauté  a chopped onion in  olive oil in the bottom of a medium sauce pan. Add a clove of chopped garlic, 1 tsp. cumin, and  1/4 c corn meal. Get a little color on the cormeal.  Add a quart of your turkey broth, 1 jar salsa verde, 1-2 cans white beans ( cannelini), chopped turkey. Simmer for about 20 minutes and test for salt, season as needed. Garnish with tortilla chips, lime and cilantro. 

Mashed potatoes

I like to do 2 different things with mashed potatoes. By far my favorite is to make potato cakes for breakfast. You can use the mashed potatoes as is or add some goat cheese and green onions or bacon or shredded cheese of choice. Make pancake sized patties of the mashed potatoes and crip them up like pancakes in a skillet with a little butter. Be very gentle when flipping. I like to top mine with a soft poached egg...oh my, my mouth is watering as I type!

The other idea is to use the potatoes as the base for potatoes leek soup. Sauté some sliced leeks in butter in the bottom of a medium saucepan add in a pinch of fresh thyme.   Heat some broth in with the leeks and whisk in the mashed potatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with fried leeks and crumbled bacon. If you want a smooth bisque , blend the leeks with the warm brothin a blender and strain out the bits.

Acorn or butternut squash

Use the soup idea, but you will need to blend it all ( no peels!)I like to start squash soup with both an onion or leek sautéed as well as a Granny Smith apple chopped and sautéed. I also like a little curry with squash soups.

Stuffing

Chop your stuffing up fine. Mix with some goat cheese and chopped sautéed spinach or greens. Mix it all together adding 1 raw egg. Form into bite size balls and freeze to bake later ( ie Holiday party appetizers) or bake at 350 until golden and toasty. 

Cranberries

Use them as the fruit in an upside down fruit cake ( Mario Battali) has a good recipe. Or use them as a topping on french toast, pancakes, gingerbread...

So if you read this too late and dumped those leftovers, there is always Christmas leftovers and next year!

Enjoy! 

Xo MamaP 

Gnocchi with Roasted Broccoli, Ham and Gorgonzola Mornay

Well I took a few days off for the weekend food orgy with the fam, based around Thanksgiving. We ate so incredibly well this weekend! Lamb tacos on Wednesday night, French toast from thick sliced cinnamon bread with sauteed apples for Turkey day breakfast, Thanksgiving at the vineyard (Thank you Bush Crispo family) with no less than 7 sides and 6 desserts, a beautiful meal at Molina in Mill Valley on Saturday night (where all cooked entreés come out of the 1000F oven), Puerto Rican breakfast at Sol Food in San Rafael, Southern shrimp and amazing greens and cornbread, prepared by the line cook offspring, and Ramen in Berkeley at Iyasare. OH my... we should be in a coma. It was a heavenly weekend! And really it was not all rich so I don't feel overindulged  ;) . If you want some photos and details of our Thanksgiving from the tall one's perspective,  jump on her blog hannahandhercity.blogspot.com

Today I am writing an easy quick dinner idea for you. As always you can sub out the protien and vegetable for what you already have ,or forget the protien and just make this a great vegetarian meal. Change the sauce and you have a delicious vegan entree.

Gnocchi with Roasted Broccoli, Ham and Gorgonzola Mornay sauce

Serves 4
1 package shelf stable gnocchi
1 head broccoli or 1 bag broccoli florets
4 slices good deli ham cut into  thin strips
1 c. milk
1/4 gorgonzola
1T butter
1T flour
1/2 shallot chopped
nutmeg
chopped Italian parsley

I usually by the whole wheat or sweet potato varieties and actually found these pumpkin ones to be a bit dense.

Preheat the oven to 375F.  Chop your broccoli into florets and mice the shallot. Toss the broccoli with a good drizzle of olive oil and, making sure it is all covered well, season with salt and pepper. Put the broccoli into the oven on a baking sheet with a Silpat and roast for 30 minutes until nice and browned on the edges.

Toast the gnocchi in a dry skillet on medium/high heat shaking the pan to get all the edges golden. Once the edges are golden add 1/4 water and put a lid on the skillet to let the gnocchi steam through. Turn the heat off under the gnocchi. Concurrently start the Mornay by melting the 1T of butter in a saucepan and add the shallot. Continue to cook until the shallot is softened. Add the Tablespoon of flour and cook until golden. This is making a roux which is a thickener.

You need to cook it a little so the sauce doesn't taste raw. Add the milk, whisking all the while to avoid lumps. Continue to whisk over medium until the sauce thickens.
you have now made a Bechamel. Turn the heat off and stir in the cheese (gorgonzola) and grate a tiny bit of nutmeg into the sauce. Adding the cheese turns the Bechamel into a Mornay...voila! Taste the sauce to see if it needs salt or pepper and adjust accordingly.
Assemble it all by putting the gnocchi on a platter, top with the broccoli and sliced ham, drizzle with the Mornay and top with the chopped parsley. If your Mornay seems a little too thick, put it back on low and whisk in a small amount of milk until you are satisfied with the viscosity.

Enjoy!
xo MamaP

EZ Posole-vegan friendly!

The Producer loves soup and he loves spicy so I whipped up a pot of EZ Posole last night for dinner. Now all of you purists might fault me for not soaking dried peppers and doing it the old fashioned way but... OH well, sometimes a mama's got to do what a mama's got to do!
Traditionally Posole is a pork stew with hominy and can be red or green. I am a fan of red Posole and since we don't eat much meat at home, I decided to make a vegan version.

Most Posole fans will tell you it's all about the toppings and I agree!

EZ Posole for 4:

1 large can hominy

1 carton vegetable stock or 1 qt. homemade
1 small can red enchilada sauce
1 zucchini
1 small brown onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. Mexican oregano

Heat a large pot on Med/High and add 1T olive oil. Cook the zucchini, onion and garlic until soft. Add in the cumin and chili powder and stir for 30 seconds to allow the oils to release. Pour in the stock and enchilada sauce. Drain the hominy and add to the pot along with the oregano. Simmer on Med. for about 20 minutes or longer. Serve piping hot with toppings on the side for each to add in.

Suggested toppings:
finely chopped onion
tortilla chips or fried tortilla strips
cilantro
sliced radishes
chunks of avocado
fresh lime wedges
hot sauce

Enjoy!
xo MamaP

Don't throw those decorative pumpkins away!

I love to decorate my porch in LA for Fall with a bounty of pumpkins and Winter squash. This year some nasty (I'm assuming) teenage boys decided to hurl my pumpkins off my porch to my driveway, 1 story below, and smashed them to smithereens! I spent the next few days plotting evil revenge but fortunately never brought it to fruition!
A few days later, when I arrived back at our Nor Cal apartment, I had discovered that the Producer had decorated our little apartment doorstep with some pumpkins. Super cute!

When I went out to the ranch, where he spends the better the better part of the day, I discovered that they had cleared the ranch garden of all squash and gourds and displayed them at the produce stand

The groovy thing is, if it's on the stand it's for the taking with an honor donation. Yahoo! I took a few more small pumpkins to bake and puree to make all sorts of delicious things from.
This glut of pumpkins inspired me to encourage you to also make your own puree.
Here's how (this will sound familiar!)
Preheat your oven to 350F
Cut your pumpkins in half along the meridian, not the equator.  Place them on a Silpat lined baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes. You should smell the delicious carmely smell and a knife should  insert into the pumpkin without resistance. Remove the seeds if you haven't already. Scoop the baked flesh into a food processor. A blender will also work for smaller batches. Puree until smooth. Freeze in 1 c. portions in freezer bags. You can keep it in the freezer easily for 6 months.

In the upcoming weeks I will be sharing some pumpkin recipes and now you will have some puree on hand. If you are reading this before Thanksgiving, I use the puree for my pies. If your puree seems watery, line a fine mesh sieve with a coffee filter and pour the puree in.  Set in the sink and allow some of the liquid to drain out.

Enjoy! 

XO MamaP 

Is it a radish or turnip?

Have you ever tried a watermelon radish? They are hard to find unless you shop at the farmer's markets. However, they are delicious! If a radish and a turnip had a baby, the watermelon radish is the result!

The texture is a little firmer as the turnip but there is still a little bite to them like a radish. I think they would be great satueéd, but I like them raw in salads.

If the skin is particularly thick, you can give them a little peel. Otherwise, just wash and slice thin.

I have used them in a couple salads recently. This one  is the Fall salad I made in the post, "The perfect compliment... " I just added the watermelon radish. 

This was served along a delicious seafood paella, stay tuned!

I'll give you the how to's on this one which we took to our oyster expedition ( see "Oysters")

 This was 2 watermelon radishes and a pound of Chinese long beans. You could easily substitute green beans or sugar snap peas for the Chinese long beans! 

I blanched the long beans in salted boiling water for about 3-5 minutes. You don't want them to be too soft! After blanching put them right into an ice water bath to stop the cooking process. 

In a small jam jar I made the dressing. 1/4 olive oil, 1 tsp. Dijon mustard, 1 small shallot minced, 2T. Sherry vinegar, pinch of salt. Shake until emulsified. 

Dress the beans and radish slices with the dressing and finish with nigella seeds or black sesame seeds and some fresh tarragon. 

Enjoy! 

Xo MamaP

Spaghetti squash

If you haven't tried spaghetti squash because you weren't sure what to do with it, well, I'm hoping this post will change your mind. I like to keep one on hand as an easy dinner.  It keeps well in the pantry (2-3 weeks in a cool dry place) is full of fiber, and it's yummy!
To prepare it, preheat your oven to 375F. Use a large solid knife to carefully cut the squash in half the long ways, in order to make 2 "boats". Be very careful when cutting! Put the squash on a towel so it doesn't slip on the counter or cutting board.Take care that the knife is not going towards you body. I usually put the point of the knife in and then pull it down to cut half way, flip the squash over and repeat to open it up. Drizzle each half with just a little olive oil and place upside down on a Silpat (see orechiette blog) lined baking sheet. Roast for 30-35 minutes. You should be able to insert a knife fairly easily into the back. It will have a little resistance but not be hard. When you take it out of the oven, turn it over and there should be nice golden edges.

Now comes the fun part...first remove the seeds and then you can either scoop the squash (it comes out in shreds, hence the name) into a bowl and drizzle with a little more olive oil, salt and pepper and just serve it like that as a delicious side OR...get creative and use it like you would noodles. If you have left over pasta sauce just scoop right over the boats and you have dinner for 2. You can cut the boats into wedges and top them with leftovers like fajitas, meatballs, roasted vegetables...
The squash does not have a dominant flavor so it's always a good idea to give it a little olive drizzle and sprinkle of salt and pepper before adding anything to it.
Tonight I am preparing a topping which is vegetarian friendly. I sauteed half an onion with a few mushrooms and threw in 3 big handfuls of chopped kale and 1 clove of garlic. I seasoned it all with a little Moroccan spice (Ras el Hanout) and the juice of 1/2 a lemon. I scooped about 1/4C. nonfat ricotta cheese into the warm squash boat. I topped that with the hot mushroom/kale mixture. I then topped that with an over easy egg and finished with some chopped parsley!

The Producer put some Sriracha sauce on his and I followed suit. It was a good idea!
Enjoy!
xo MamaP

Lunch at the Ferry Building SF

My dear friend Christie is here visiting from Austin so of course we had to get into the city today. She is a fan of all water craft so the obvious choice was to take the Ferry over. It was rainy today so we decided to hole up in the Ferry Building, not a bad place to hole up I might add. We ambled through, sampling along the way and then decided to head to Bouli Bar. We shared a Mediterranean salad and a spicy lamb pizza. Both were yummy but the salad was worthy of sharing. It was very fresh and satisfying and easy to re-create at home.

The base was cooked Bulgar. The greens were parsley, purslane and mint with some frisee. I would omit the frisee and bump up the herbs a bit more. There was pomegranate pips, green onion, pistachios and some crumbled ricotta salata. Ricotta salata is a dry salty cheese. You could substitute some feta for the ricotta salata if it is hard to find. It was dressed in a light lemony dressing. I would use the dressing in the persimmon and pomegranate salad post.
If you haven't used Bulgar before, just follow the directions right on the package.
Christie and I both agreed that this salad would be good with some leftover turkey added to it!
Enjoy!
xo MamaP

Noodle bowls...nom nom nom

I love ramen! I love Pho! I love bibimbap. Therefore I decided to do my own crazy morphed version of all of the above based on what was in the refrigerator.   I call it Noodle Bowl...

I had rice noodles the, kind used in pho, and a half carton of miso ginger soup. Now before you stop reading because you live somewhere without any Asian grocery stores, please note that you can order many items delivered right to your door from Amazon and other on-line retailers.
These are the noodles I use and have even found them at Target

The vegetables I used were already in my fridge so note that you can sub for a variety of what you might have, just use the same techniques on them. Or better yet, this is a great way to use leftover veggies because you only need little bits of things (last night's leftover roasted squash, the little bit of sauteed greens from Sunday supper...) You can keep this completely vegan by not using shrimp and subbing with tofu prepared the same way as the shrimp or just a handful of nuts to add some protein.

I will list the ingredients I used,  but do not be overwhelmed...read my tips below...
Rice sticks (pho noodles)
Ginger Miso broth (from Trader Joe's)
peeled raw shrimp
garlic
lemongrass
ponzu
soy sauce
garlic chili paste
vinegar
agave or honey
Teriyaki dressing
Chinese broccoli
sugar snap peas
eggplant
spinach
Sriracha sauce
sesame seeds

The process is basically to prep all your toppings and then boil the noodles in whatever broth you wish. Put the noodles and broth in a bowl and top with your toppings.
Here are the toppings I made:

pickled carrots:
Cut the carrots into matchstick sized pieces. In a small saucepan, stir together 1/3 c. vinegar, 1 tsp agave, sugar or honey, pinch of salt and a tsp of chili garlic sauce.
Toss the carrots in. Put the whole thing on high and let the carrots simmer for 3-4 mins. then turn the heat off and just let them sit while you prep the other stuff.

Preheat the oven top 400 F

Now chop all of the veggies you are using in order to be able to cook them quickly and keep them warm while the noodles are boiling. Don't start the noodles yet.
The first thing I did was get the shrimp marinating and the  eggplant roasting. I tossed 6 shrimp with 3 T. ponzu,  1 T. olive oil, 1 clove chopped garlic and 1/2 tsp. minced lemongrass.  Let it all sit in a bowl together while you keep prepping the rest

Chop the eggplant into 1/2"cubes and toss with a drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper. Put the vegetables on a baking tray with or without a Silpat (you know how I love a Silpat! see the orechiette post). Roast in the 400F oven for 20-25 minutes until the eggplant has some nice color and is soft. It should be soft and sweet, no one likes undercooked eggplant!

These are egg sized Indian eggplant, my favorites. the dimples mean they need to be used today! Buy them when they are firm taught, and shiny.

Start you stock on a med simmer just so it's ready for the noodles when you are.
Saute' the broccoli.  I used the Chinese variety, so sweet!  Do this in a very hot pan to get a little brown on the broccoli.  At the end, toss in some chili garlic sauce  and 3 T. water and cover to let it steam through and cook the stems through, then hold warm in a bowl.
 In the same pan add a drizzle more oil and saute the peas (either sugar snap, or Chinese) or just use some frozen shelled peas.

Bring your stock to a full boil now and throw in your noodles. Cook according to the package directions.  Drizzle the sauteed peas with a sesame dressing or a little sesame oil and some sesame seeds.

Add the shrimp onto the eggplant tray in the oven to finish roasting for the last 5 mins.
Finally saute' the greens (I used spinach) when it is almost finished, which happens fast, throw in some chopped garlic and a small drizzle of soy.
Check you eggplant and shrimp in the oven to see if they are both done. the shrimp should be just pink and the eggplant soft, do not overcook the shrimp.
Once your noodles are cooked, put them in a good sized bowl with some of the broth and then place all of you toppings on them. Finish with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and maybe a little sriracha sauce.

This recipe is more of a plan of attack. Don't let it bog you down. This is a go to mid week dinner for us. I don't always prep all of the veg. the night I'm making it (read I use leftovers) Sometimes I roast more things and saute less for easier prep. I often put a soft cooked egg on top as the protein.
I do recommend you keep a nice assortment of Asian sauces on hand because it is the combination of different flavors that makes this dish so yummy!!! nom nom nom
Enjoy!
xo MamaP

Herbaceous Turkey Meatballs

I'm going to a screening with the Producer tonight and needed to make something for both of us that will travel well to be consumed later. My first thought was a meatball sandwich but both of us are trying not to eat as much bread  and baked goods as we did before we we became "persons of a certain age".  So I was already on the meatball train and just decided to stay there. 

However, instead of sliding them between some delicious buttery garlic bread and smothering them with cheese, I thought better and decided to put them over some greens along with some roasted vegetables on the side. I upped the ante by deciding to make them from lean ground turkey. However, the turkey decision always screams for help with flavor and moisture. I think I got both of those covered here. This is what I came up with...

Herbaceous Turkey meatballs in Arrabiatta sauce:

1 pound lean ground turkey 

1 handful Italian parsley

6 medium basil leaves

1 whole shallot

1 clove garlic

zest of 1 lemon

1/4 c. Water

1 jar purchased Arrabiatta sauce or any marinara you like

Place the ground turkey in a bowl big enough to mix all ingredients in. Wash your hands well. Place the parsley, basil, shallot, garlic and water in a food processor or blender. I used my "Magic Bullet"; love that little thing! Whirl all of that up to make a slurry and pour it onto the turkey.

 Zest the lemon into the turkey mix. Add 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper. Now without being too aggressive, get your hands in that bowl and mix allow the ingredients well.  Try to keep the meat mixture light and not dense. 

Wash your hands well again!  

Heat a skillet to med/ high more towards high. Pour in 1-2 T. Olive oil. Now go back to the mixture and gently form meatballs. I like balls a little larger than golf balls. I made 9 balls from the 1 pound mix. This also allows you to have the serving size you wish. Brown the meatballs in the skillet making sure to allow a nice crust to form. Flip them to brown the other side. 

Turn your heat to low and once your pan has cooled to a lower temperature, pour the sauce over the top of the meatballs and cover the pan so that the meatballs simmer slowly in the  sauce allowing them to cook all the way through. This will take about 15 mins. If you are not sure cut a meatball open to check for doneness .

If you serve the hot meatballs and sauce right over the top of some nice fresh greens ( I used baby kale), the greens will wilt and will have the texture of sautéed greens without the oil.  

The roasted vegetables were chopped and tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper and were roasted in a 400 F oven for 20 minutes until they got a little color on them.

If you'd like, grate a little parmigiano on top and maybe add a little more parsley.

Enjoy!

XO MamaP

The perfect compliment to a rich meal- Butter lettuce with grapefruit suprémes

So often the simplest things are the best! Last night I made some yummy enchiladas and needed a light refreshing something to go with. I remembered I had purchased a ruby grapefruit and of course being a California girl I had a ripe avocado, or 3, and I had some beautiful butter lettuce from the Farmer's market.  Et voila', a salad was born. This salad is dressed on the plate, you don't even need to shake up a dressing.
Wash and drain dry the butter lettuce and place the whole leaves on a plate or platter. Probably 3 leavers per customer or 1/2 small head of butter lettuce.
Cut the suprémes from the grapefruit by peeling it first with a sharp knife and then cutting the segments from between the membranes.

I did not do a good job of peeling this one...I should have used my boning knife. But you can see how the segments are cut from the membrane to make the suprémes.

Keep the skins with the remnants of the grapefruit to dress the salad.
Place the segments on top of the butter lettuce.
Cut the  avocado into chunks and place on the salad. Squeeze the juice from the remaining grapefruit peels and remnants over the salad. Drizzle with some good olive oil. Salt and pepper the salad. I tossed on a few toasted slivered almonds.

Thin sliced red onion could also be good and/or a little crumble of blue or feta cheese.
This also makes a good summer main salad with the addition of a protein...grilled salmon, chicken or shrimp...OMG! I'm just going to stop myself right here!!!
Enjoy!
xo MamaP